Taub Laboratories for Mechanical Circulatory Assistance continue as an interdisciplinary group engaged in design, manufacture, and in vitro evaluation of new circulatory support devices and in their evaluation in experimental animals. Emphasis is on development of Left Ventricular assist devices which would be able to assist a failing left ventricle of the heart to pump blood for a period of two or three weeks. These assist devices use either dacron velour or segmented polyurethane as the blood contact material, are of a swirl design to minimize flow stasis, and have Lillehei-Kaster tilting disc prosthetic valves because of their favorable flow fields. In search for a nonthrombogenic surface to line the assist devices, a subcontract to the AVCO Everett Corporation to develop pump bladders of clinically proven Avcotane is extremely promising. We are also exploring the potential use of cultured endothelia cells on biomaterials to try to provide the nonthrombogenic lining characteristic of natural blood vessels. Evaluation of left ventricular assist devices is carried out primarily in normal experimental animals, but an effort is underway to produce a stable left ventricular failure model in experimental animals, in which to test therapeutic use of the assist devices. In the 07 year, we will continue to sharpen our focus on Left Ventricular Bypass Pump development, with the realization that much of successful left ventricular assist device development may also be relevant to the development of total artificial heart devices. BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES: Normann, N.A., Noon, G.P., DeBakey, M.E., and Ross, J.N., "Automatic Control of Pneumatic Blood Pumps"; Trans. Am. Soc. Artif. Int. Organs, 20: 685, 1974. Noon, G.P., Normann, N.A., and Debakey, M.E., "Left Ventricular Bypass in Treatment of Pump Failures", Transactions 2nd Henry Ford Hospital International Symposium of Cardiovascular Surgery, October 6-9, 1975, in press.